Team AERO: Chapter XVII

You get up and train with Oliver before hitting a quick breakfast with Regalia before class.

You go through the first half of your day and are now in DeFluer's class.

[Volunteer to fight.]
[Sit it out (HAVE TO FIGHT TOMORROW)]

You decide to sit it out. The rest of the day goes normally and you go to bed.

You wake up on Friday and shower before going to breakfast with Regalia. Afterwards, you go to class with the rest of your team. Classes and lunch come and go, and you are once again in DeFleur's class.

You must pick your opponents.

[Nevermore (#)]
[King Taijitu (#)]
[Deathstalker (#)]
[Creeps (#)]
[??]

You select 4 Creep.

DeFleur sighs, muttering to herself "Every year. But noooo, 'we can't take Creeps off the menu'"

She motions for you to enter the arena.

You make your way down with your team.

[Plan of attack?]
[Wing it.]
[??]

"Stick together, take them at range."

Your team nods.

The gate at the far end opens, and the quartet of Grimm crawl and slither forward.

"We'll take the two on the left." Regalia says to you.

That leaves you and Crystal with the pair on the right.

[Take them out individually, one each.]
[Some sort of combo (what?)]
[??]

"Acid!" You say to Crystal.

She nods and blows a cluster of bubbles that float above the incoming Creeps.

You angle a pair of shots up, then use your semblance to send them down, both popping the bubbles over the Creeps, and impaling them.

The first shot pops all it's bubbles and hits the Creep in the back. It gets doused with acid and lets out a screech as it dies.

The second shot hits the majority of the bubbles and takes a chunk out of the Creep's side. The falling acid finishes it off.

Meanwhile, Regalia has sent a single thread downrange. It impales both Creep's necks and strings them together. She gives a pull, and the pair are turned so that they are stacked facing the wall. Oliver only needs a single shot to melt through both their heads.

[Good work everyone!]
[Just head back up.]
[??]

"Good work everyone!" You cheer before heading back up.

"Weak opponents, but quality display of teamwork." DeFleur comments as she taps on her tablet.

You sit through the rest of class, which includes PINK taking out a pair of Nevermore.

It is now the weekend.

[Stay in tonight.]
[Go out (where?)]
[Stay on campus, but don't just sit in your room (do what?)]
[??]

You decide you'll visit your parents again. They should probably be home this weekend, after being gone the last.

[Bring your team.]
[Don't.]
[??]

"I think I'm gonna head over to my parents, you guys wanna come?"

"If it's all the same, I'd rather not." Crystal says.

"Yea, I'm gonna pass too." Olive says.

"I'll go with you." Regalia smiles.

[Sure.]
[Nah, just me.]
[??]

"Sure!" You say.

You depart for the city with Regalia. You take the transport to the nearest drop off, which is a few blocks form your parent's house.

You have a bit of walking.

[Anything you wanna talk about with Regalia?]
[Just walk in silence.]
[??]

"I hope my parents aren't pissed at us for eating all their food."

"If they are, then I'll be more than happy to compensate them for what we ate." Regalia says with a chuckle.

"Hey! Wanna have another sleepover? Just us two?"

"I'd love to~" She says as you continue your walk.

You arrive at your parents house just as the sun begins to fade form the sky. You only have about 10 minutes of daylight left, not that it matters with your faunus blood.

[Knock.]
[Just go in.]
[??]

You knock. It takes a few minutes, but your mom answers the door.

"Aero!" She says as she brings you inside the embrace of her arms. "What are you doing here?"

[??]

"We dropped by for a visit. Regalia's the only one that wanted to come." You manage to squeeze from your lungs before your mother lets you go.

"That so?" She smiles, moving aside, "Well come in, come in."

You and Regalia file in and your mother shuts the door behind you. You make your way to the couch and sit down together.

"So, what's new? How's school? Are you learning everything?" Your mother asks.

[??]

"Well, we've moved up from holograms to actual Grimm for training. And I'm training to control multiple bullets at once!"

"Multiple bullets? I thought your uncle's weapon was a single shot?" Your mother asks.

"I upgraded it, remember?" You show her your weapon and go over the new features.

You talk with your mother for a while.

["Where's dad?"]
[He's probably working, just keep talking.]
["What's for dinner?"]
[??]

"Where's dad? And what's for dinner?"

"Oh. Your father said something about having to go in to work. I'm sure he'll be home soon. I was waiting for him to ge home, so I haven't started dinner yet."

[Offer to help.]
[Just wait for dad. Maybe we'll go out to eat!]

"We can make dinner, mom." You say, tilting your head towards Regalia.

"You can?"
"We can?"

Both of them blink in surprise.

"Well.. Yea." You say before getting up and heading to the kitchen. Regalia gets up and follows you in.

"Alright, let's see what we have to work with first." You instruct your sous chef.

You search through the kitchen to see that it's even more full than the last time you were here.

"Ok, I'm thinking we should make..."

[Baked chicken with-

Your mother's scream interrupts your train of thought.

[??]

You quickly rush into the living room.

There's four of those masked faunus from the woods. Your mother is laying on the floor in the middle of the room.

"There they are!" One of them shouts and points at you. Two of them raise their guns, the last is pointing at your mother.

"Don't move."

[??]

"As if any of you could actually hit me.."

The lead man looks somewhat confused. But this lasts only a moment until he shoots your mom in the shin. She cries out in pain.

"Kid, I don't think you understand the situation you're in."

[??]

"What do you want?" You ask, making sure not to do anything else to endanger your mother.

"We want you and your friend there to come quietly."

"Come where?" Regalia asks.

"You'll see."

[Go quietly.]
[Fight.]

Your weapon is leaning against the wall behind them. Regalia's is with her jacket, by the front door.


"Can we at least get our jackets?" You ask.

The man sighs angrly, "Sure, whatever. You wanna stop for ice cream on the way?"

"Can we?" You ask.

"No. Hurry the fuck up."

You quickly move through the living room and get Regalia's jacket. You take one of your old ones out of the closet just to keep up the act. You put it on and close the closet to see that Regalia is wearing hers.

"Alright, let's go." The leader says.

["What about my mom?"]
[Just go.]
[??]

You just go with them, hoping they forget about your mom. They do, and lead you outside into an even larger group of faunus on your front lawn.

You spot your dad kneeling in the grass, a gun to the back of his head.

[Call out to him.]
[Stay quiet.]

You stay quiet. He looks at you and you look at him.

Then you feel something hard hit you in the back of the head.

Water hits your face and you snap your eyes open.

You're in a bright room, and it takes you a moment to get your vision back.

Directly in front of you is a man with an empty bucket. On either side are a pair of those mask wearing faunus with guns.

You look to your right and see Regalia. She appears fine, but wet.

[??]

You wait for them to do something first.

The bucket holder looks over his shoulder. "She's awake."

A door behind him opens, and another masked person enters.

"Do you know why you're here?" He asks you in an oddly smooth voice.

[Do you?]

"Because I kicked your asses in the mountains and destroyed your camp?" You ask.

He smirks, "Yes and no. You are here because you clearly have potential. And it'd be a shame to waste it on something as petty as revenge. You see, we aren't just out to cause trouble. No, we're after a larger goal. And to obtain that goal, we require powerful fauna, such as you two, to aid us, and lend us your strength. So consider this a proposition."

["Why the force, then?"]
["What's your goal?"]
[Refuse.]
[Accept.]
[??]

"Why the force, then?" You ask.

His smirk grows, "We wouldn't want you to think we take kindly to your actions. Nor would we want you to think you're safe without us."

"So what's your goal?"

He smirk returns to a regular-level grin, "Our goal is simple. Equality, justice, and freedom. For too long we faunus have bene held down by the human's heel. It's time we rise up and demand our rights by any means necessary."

Regalia is being very quiet. You wonder if she's alright.

["What's in it for me?"]
[Our role in the revolution.]
[Refuse.]
[Accept.]
[??]

"And what would our role be?" You ask.

"I imagine you'd join the other "LOST Ones," as they call themselves. Most of us aren't hunters, but the ones that are, or were, form the majority of our leadership and advanced forces."

You turn to Regalia, "You alright?"

She nods, "I hope you aren't seriously considering this.."

"What's the matter, pumpkin? Afraid to get blood on your hands?" The man mocks her.

Regalia looks away, looking angry.

The man shrugs and looks back at you, "So, what is it?"

[??]

"What's in it for us?"

You can feel the man roll his eyes under the mask, "For starters, your life. Your parents' lives. If that's not enough, then is freedom from oppression not enough?"

He coughs, "And we get paid like 10,000 lien a week."

You can see Regalia shaking her head at you.

[Accept.]
[Refuse.]
[??]

"How do I know my parents are even alive at this point? One of your goons shot my mother!"

He sighs and fishes a scroll out of his pocket. He tosses it to you. It's yours!

"Go ahead and call."

You quickly call your parents.

"Aero?" It's mom!

"Mom! Are you alright?"

"I'm ok, sweetie. The medics patched me up as soon as those people took you away. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, mom. Listen, I have to-"

The masked men pressed the call end button.

"Time's up."

[Accept.]
[Refuse.]

You take a deep breath.

"Alright. I'm in."

The man smirks.

"Aero.." Regalia mumbles, looking rather defeated.

The man snaps his fingers, "Throw 'em both in the pit."

What?

The men grab you and drag you through their base.

It doesn't take long before you reach what can only be described as 'a giant hole in the ground.'

They shove you and Regalia in. You tumble down the steep dirt walls before hitting the bottom.

The two of you just get up before your weapon lands at your feet.

"Welcome to the White Fang. Your first orders are to kill that race traitor."

You look up to see the man standing over you with a smirk.

[Refuse.]
["Regalia... I'm sorry."]

"No."

The man's smirk fades, "What was that?"

"No. I won't do it!"

"Aero.." Regalia's smile is starting to come back.

The man shrugs, "Then you can die with her."

He raises his hand. The dozens of faunus near the hole raise their weapons.

You have your weapon at your feet. Regalia appears unarmed.

[??]

You quickly grab your weapon and fire a shot. The first hits the masked gunman and sends him flying into the wall. He groans, but isn't dead. Guess he had some aura. You direct your shot into the other's weapons, knocking away about half of them as they open fire on you.

You close your eyes and brace for impact, only to hear the bullets get deflected by something.

Regalia is hugging you, her chest bare and against your front. Her clothes were deconstructed, forming a wire barrier that moved to cut the bullets down. Several strands had lashed out farther, giving those without enough aura massive gashes on their arms.

The leader swears, backing away, "I knew we couldn't do this without the LOST Ones. Fuck this!" He turns and pulls what appears to be a fire alarm on the wall. Rather than triggering an alarm, the ceiling explodes.

"Have fun, ladies!" He shouts before making his escape.

Regalia's threads had wrapped around something, and she pulls the two of you out of the pit as the rocks fill it up. The moment you're out of immediate harms' way, her face turns a bright red as her shirt reforms.

"S-sorry! I-I didn't have another choice!"

["Later! Let's go!"]
["It's fine, I enjoyed the view~"]
["You shouldn't have done that."]
[??]

"It's fine, I enjoyed the view, now let's go!" You give her a gentle shove as you run to the nearest exit. It opens to a forked hallway.

Masked faunus are fleeing everywhere and don't seem to mind you too much as chunks of roof and wall fall around you.

"Which way?" Regalia asks.

[Left.]
[Right.]
[Back to the pit?]
[??]

"Right!" You point as you run. Seems you're going towards the fleeing faunus. Well, at least they aren't stopping you.

You reach the end of the hall and another door. You open it and rush inside.

It appears to be a small supply closet. On the table is Regalia's cloak and weapon, as well as your satchel and each of your scrolls.

You quickly grab your items and make your way back to the hall.

[Back to the left fork.]
[Keep going.]
[??]

You decide to follow the faunus. They must know the way out, right?

You run with them, dodging debris as the building starts to groan.

"Faster!" Regalia says.

You rush through the halls as fast as you can, eventually reaching the final door to freedom.

You escape just as the building begins to collapse.

The masked members keep running as sirens fill the air.

You look around. You're in the warehouse district. They must have been using one of the old, abandoned warehouses as a base.

"Now what?" Regalia asks.

[Wait for the cops.]
[Get the fuck out.]
[Check on parents.]
[??]

"Regalia!" You point at the last fleeing faunus in sight.

She thrusts her arm forward as her threads wiz through the air. They wrap around his legs and pull him to the ground before reeling him in.

You take your scroll out as she does and start a group call with Albaster, your parents, Crystal and Oliver.

"Aero."
"Ms. Swann?"
"What's up?"
"Aero! You're alright!"

[What say?]

"We're in the warehouse district! Send some police over here. We're alright, don't worry!"

"From the sound of things, the police are already on their way."

Alabaster's right, the cops are closing in. Must have been the explosion that got their attention.

"We're just glad you're alright, sweetie. Stay safe."

"What happened?"

[Tell Oliver and Crystal everything.]
[Leave out the part about joining.]
[??]

You tell them everything. Regalia looks a bit uncomfortable when you mention that you joined them.

"You didn't mean it, right, Aero?" Your mom asks.

[I did.]
[Of course not.]
[??]

"Of course not.. I just.. I just had to say what they wanted to hear to keep you guys safe."

"We understand." Your dad says.

"Why don't you two come back to the school for tonight? We can discuss this in the morning." Alabaster says.

[Sure.]
[Nah, stay with parents.]
[??]

"I'm sorry sir, but I'd like to be near my parents for tonight. I'm sure there won't be any further danger, but I just want to be sure."

"Aero..."

"Yes, mom?"

"We're at your school."

"What?" You blink.

"They have us in the main hall with a group of VDF soldiers and a hunter. They said they're taking us to Vale until this blows over. It'll be just like a vacation.. But with body guards!" Your dad chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

[??]

"As long as you guys are safe there.. But wait, who's "us?""

"Your parents and I thought it'd be best for you to stay here and finish your education. Of course, the decision lies with you. Regardless, your parents will be watched over."

[Continue your education.]
[Enter Witness Protection.]

"If it's all the same, then I want to stay."

You hadn't noticed Regalia was holding her breath, but she sighs and relaxes.

"Very well. We'll talk again tomorrow." Alabaster says before hanging up.

"Goodnight sweetie. We're glad your safe." Your parents hang up.

"You guys coming back? Or do you want us to meet you somewhere?" Oliver asks.

[??]

"We're coming back. We're just going to grab some food first."

"Alright, stay safe." Crystal says as she and Oliver hang up as well.

"So where are we going to eat?" Regalia asks.

You check your scroll.

[AURA: 46%]
[11:24]

Not many places are going to be serving still. At least it's the weekend, so some placed like Schnizza Hut are open until midnight.

[Try and find something still open.]
[Order food to arrive at the dorm.]
[??]

"Let's just order some Schnizza Hut. It should get there by about the time we get back."

"Alright."

The two of you start heading to one of the docks while ordering food form your scroll. You get there and board one of the last ships until morning.

[Any words for your teammate?]
[Silence]
[??]

You wrap your arms around her leaning the side of your head against her soft breasts as you do so.

She puts an arm around you and pats your head.

You hold your embrace until the ship lands.

[Don't let go.]
[You should probably go pay for your Schnizza.]
[??]

You slowly remove your arms from your towering teammate, to which she does the same.

"We should probably go pay for our food, huh?"

She chuckles, "It'd be the right thing to do."

You stop leaning on her and exit the transport to head back to your dorm.

Regalia is walking beside you.

Boy, her hand sure looks lonely.

[Do it.]
[Control yourself, Swann!]

You slide your hand into hers and hold it gently.

She keeps walking as though nothing happened, but she's returning your squeeze in kind.

You move as one through the campus, noting the few VDF forces scurrying about, but none impede your journey.

Eventually, you arrive outside your dorm, where a tired looking Schnizza boy awaits. You pay him and he departs, leaving your order piled next to the door.

Regretfully, you let go of Regalia's smooth hand to acquire your food and let yourself into your room.

Oliver and Crystal are sitting on their beds.

"Are you guys alright?" Oliver asks.

"What happened?" Crystal says.

[Details.]
[Fine, don't worry about it.]
[Ignore them.]
[??]

"We're fine. We'll fill you in after we get some pizza in us."

"That's fine." She says before laying on her bed and taking out her scroll.

You and Regalia set your food on your desk and sit on your bed eating.

It doesn't take long for the two of you to polish off the food.

You tell the rest of your team what happened in detail, the complete a breif Q&A.

[Head to bed.]
[Stay up and..??]
[??]

You go to sleep, exhausted.

[Chapter XVII: End]